Worship Notes June 1 Seventh Sunday of Easter

Worship Notes

The Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A

June 1, 2014

The Season

We are nearing the end of our Fifty Days of Easter. On the first three Sundays of Easter, we heard stories of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. On these last three Sundays, we are with Jesus in the Upper Room after celebrating the Last Supper. Judas has already left to betray him. Jesus offers words of encouragement and comfort to his confused and fearful disciples. Next Sunday, we jump ahead from the night of Jesus’ arrest to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Jesus indeed does not leave us “as orphans,” as we heard last Sunday!

In Word

Our First Lesson takes us to Mount Olivet and Jesus’ Ascension, which the global Church observed once again this past Thursday, on the fortieth day of Easter. Jesus comforts his bewildered disciples: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Our psalmist sings, “In your holy habitation, O God, you are a father to orphans, defender of widows; you give the solitary a home and bring forth prisoners into freedom . . .” (Psalm 68:5-6a). Last week in our Gospel reading we heard Jesus say to his anxious disciples before his crucifixion, “I will not leave you orphaned . . .” (John 14:18). God’s love and care for widows and orphans, the lonely and the prisoner, is a theme that runs throughout Scripture. It is a theme that runs through 2000 years of the history of the Church. The Church is not the Church if it does not love and care for widows and orphans, the lonely and the prisoner.

In our Second Lesson, the Apostle Peter comforts his fellow Christians suffering persecution: “Humble yourselves therefore under the might hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). The Apostle’s love for “his” people is evident. He himself shared in their suffering, finally himself being crucified.

In our Gospel for today, our Lord prays for his disciples—and all of us—in what has come to be known as his “High Priestly Prayer (John 17): “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). To know Jesus is to know God. If we can believe and trust in what Jesus says in our Gospel for today, that is eternal life. It begins here and now. What more could we want?!

In Song

“Alleluia! Sing to Jesus” was originally published under the title “Redemption by His Precious Blood” and was written as a hymn to be sung during the Lord’s Supper. The lyrics are rich in imagery of Easter and Ascension: “Alleluia! His the triumph, his the victory alone. . . . Not as orphans are we left in sorrow now .  . Though the cloud from sight received him when the forty days were o’er . . .” The tune, Hyfrydol, which means “delightful, beautiful, sweet, melodious” in Welsh, is one of the most beloved and popular tunes in Christendom. With the exception of the sixth-to-the-last note, the entire melody draws from only the first five notes of the major scale.